What is the "must have" equipment that has transformed your cave diving?

[vinegarbiscuit]

What piece of equipment has made the biggest difference to your personal cave diving pleasure/convenience? I know everything we take into a cave is essential, but there must have been times when you thought, "I truly could not imagine doing this without____", or, "My new____makes such a difference", or "How did they manage in the 1970s without____?". My guess is that folks who have been at this a long time, and were forced to rely on home-brewed equipment by necessity will have very interesting responses, but I'm truly curious to hear everyone's thoughts.

Disclosure: I poached the idea for this thread from a section of a recent NSS publication, where dry cavers were invited to submit their responses. The answers were as diverse as LED lights to exposure protection to pee valves, so I was inspired to put the same question to cave divers.

[Sludge]

A second set of doubles.

Edit for explanation: when I started cave diving both Jackson Blue and Madison Blue were a 75-mile 'round trip to the nearest fill station.

[patpicos]

my LM 26W. Used to have a LM12W....the increase in light is amazing

[victorzamora]

my LM 26W. Used to have a LM12W....the increase in light is amazing

I went from an old Dive Rite 10W wreck-canister (that I still have) to a UWLD 35-144. That Dive Rite 10W is a great light, but going to a BIG light makes a huge difference.

[patpicos]

Pee-valve ...didnt have one before cave diving...now cant live w/o. Especially when hitting deco....let it flowww

[FW]

My first cave dives were with singles, since doubles weren't readily available, so doubles would be the first improvement. They were hard to dive, because our BCDs were on our chest, and you tended to roll if you weren't careful. The Back mounted BCD was a big improvement. I had actually switched to sidemount, before the backplate/wing came out.
Second was the made-for-cavediving-reel. We were using reels intended for other things, or made our own.
The advent of dry suits made a big difference. My first one was neoprene, because shell suits weren't out yet. When the shell suits came out, I switched to them.
Better lights were a big change. First it was the "super bright" Halogen lights. It was like someone had turned on the sun. However the bulb had to stay dry, so we used laboratory test tubes, which broke easily. We solved that by having custom, thick walled tubes made.
Then The HID came out and blew the Halogen away. The big problem with HID was the early ones were very fragile so the advent of LED lights solved that. The problem is they weren't as bright as HID lights.
Then came improvements in LED which made them as bright as HID.
The next big change was dive computers. The first ones actually were worse than dive tables, and got a lot of people bent. A nickname for the early ones was "Bend-O-Matic". I waited until they were actually safe before buying one. It was a 2 gas model, and at the time was great. That technology is still improving.
Then the scooter came along. The Faralon was the hot thing, but had motorcycle batteries, which tended to spill. That was solved by putting NiCad batteries in them, but they were expensive. I waited until the Tekna came out to get one. Then Gavin improved the Tekna, by making bigger battery tubes, still lead acid, but sealed to avoid spills. I got one of the first NiMh powered scooters, but the batteries didn't last long. Then I converted it to Lithium ion, and still use that, but some of the later generation ones are a lot better.

Actually I suspect the biggest "must have" piece of gear, was actually the cheapest. For a hint, look to the left of the text

[Greenwood_60]

90 degree elbow on a second stage. So much more comfortable.

[vinegarbiscuit]

My first cave dives were with singles, since doubles weren't readily available, so doubles would be the first improvement. They were hard to dive, because our BCDs were on our chest, and you tended to roll if you weren't careful. The Back mounted BCD was a big improvement. I had actually switched to sidemount, before the backplate/wing came out.
Second was the made-for-cavediving-reel. We were using reels intended for other things, or made our own.
The advent of dry suits made a big difference. My first one was neoprene, because shell suits weren't out yet. When the shell suits came out, I switched to them.
Better lights were a big change. First it was the "super bright" Halogen lights. It was like someone had turned on the sun. However the bulb had to stay dry, so we used laboratory test tubes, which broke easily. We solved that by having custom, thick walled tubes made.
Then The HID came out and blew the Halogen away. The big problem with HID was the early ones were very fragile so the advent of LED lights solved that. The problem is they weren't as bright as HID lights.
Then came improvements in LED which made them as bright as HID.
The next big change was dive computers. The first ones actually were worse than dive tables, and got a lot of people bent. A nickname for the early ones was "Bend-O-Matic". I waited until they were actually safe before buying one. It was a 2 gas model, and at the time was great. That technology is still improving.
Then the scooter came along. The Faralon was the hot thing, but had motorcycle batteries, which tended to spill. That was solved by putting NiCad batteries in them, but they were expensive. I waited until the Tekna came out to get one. Then Gavin improved the Tekna, by making bigger battery tubes, still lead acid, but sealed to avoid spills. I got one of the first NiMh powered scooters, but the batteries didn't last long. Then I converted it to Lithium ion, and still use that, but some of the later generation ones are a lot better.

Actually I suspect the biggest "must have" piece of gear, was actually the cheapest. For a hint, look to the left of the text

I know I can't do without my cave arrows

I love these descriptions of how equipment has evolved. I am neither a tinkerer or "handy", so I would have been one very frustrated cave diver thirty years ago. Either that, or I would have been paying people to make me stuff. It's one thing to know what you need to dive safely and comfortably, but not everyone has the talent, creativity and fortitude to 1) define it; 2) go about actually fashioning it; and 3) endure the various trials and errors inherent in testing improvised equipment in a very unforgiving environment. Pretty amazing stuff.

You mentioned the Faralon scooters - were they more popular than the German Aqua Zepp scooters?

[tbone1004]

for me it was the switch from Apeks to Poseidon second stages. Luckily when I came around, LED's were starting to take off, reels and arrows were already around, etc etc.

[Sludge]

FW, whoever you are, we need to write a Cave Diving History book together. You can be in charge of gear innovations and I'll get the chronology straight.